Tages began their recording career as a beat band, heavily influenced and inspired by the Beatles. Initially, the group garnered much criticism from other musicians, who considered them inexperienced. This led to them quickly developing as a group, drawing influences from British mod artists, specifically Small Faces, and like them, were the center of Swedish male fashion from 1965 onward. The band would cover songs from virtually unknown artists in Sweden, such as John Lee Hooker, Willie Dixon and Muddy Waters, but also from competitors, such as the Everly Brothers, the Easybeats and Small Faces.
Between 1965 and 1967, Tages managed to record five studio albums, including Extra Extra (1966), which was among the first psychedelic rock albums recorded. During the later part of their career, Tages pioneered a genre of music, combining elements of Swedish folk music with contemporary rock music. In doing so, the group recorded their final studio album, simply titled Studio (1967), which solely contains original material and has often times been considered among the best Swedish albums of the 1960s. In mid-late 1968, Blom departed the band, after which they renamed themselves Blond. After a line-up change leaving Lagerberg the only original member left, they released one album, The Lilac Years, on the Fontana label in 1969.
History
1963–1964: Formation and breakthrough
In the summer of 1963, Tommy Blom and Anders Töpel started a skiffle group, originally named Alberts Skifflegrupp after Blom's middle name. Töpel invited Danne Larsson to join the band, who suggested they also invite Göran Lagerberg to play the washboard.[1] The quartet then renamed themselves Tages Skifflegrupp after Larsson's middle name, Tage, hoping the unusual name would help them stand out.[2][3] The group initially sang mainly sing-along songs.[4] They usually performed at private events, but occasionally were scheduled to play at venues. In October of that year, the group entered a talent show called "Oktobersmällen" ("The October Bang"). The band was flat out panned by the jury, and ended up last place.[5] However, it gave them their first major performance, at KungälvFolkpark.[5]
By early 1964, Tages Skifflegrupp had changed their name to simply Tages, as they quickly ventured away from skiffle due to the impact of Beatlemania. Lagerberg received a bass guitar as a Christmas present and the other members purchased electric guitars of their own.[6] After recruiting drummer Freddie Skantze, Tages became a beat group.[7][8]
Tages receiving the prize for the West Coast's Beatles competition, 16 August 1964
The group caught their first break during 13–17 August 1964, when they signed up for Göteborgs-Posten's contest "Västkustens Beatles" ("The West Coast's Beatles"). The concept behind this was to sound similarly to the Beatles, with a requirement of four members. The prize was a free recording session to the victor.[9][pageneeded] Tages however, consisted of five members at the time. This problem was solved since Blom was in London at the time, a two-week vacation he took to improve his English skills, while connecting with other people at a Youth Hostel.[4] Without Blom, Lagerberg, Larsson, Töpel and Skantze successfully made Tages into a quartet.[10] They won the contest, garnering 600 votes out of the 1300 voting members of the audience.[10][11]
Blom had by now returned to Sweden, and the band were authorized to record their first single. For this release, they chose to record a song which was written by Blom, "Sleep Little Girl". The first recording of the song was not recorded at a professional studio, but rather at Nylöse Ungdomsgård, where a makeshift studio had been created in the cellar.[4] The group entered the studio on 20 September 1964 to record the song.[12] The song features Blom on lead vocals, while Larsson plays the acoustic guitar. Lagerberg sings backing vocals on the recording. The single was released on 16 October 1964, by independent record label Platina Records. "Sleep Little Girl" became an immediate smash hit. It reached number 3 on Kvällstoppen in December 1964, and topped radio chart Tio i Topp, staying eleven weeks on that chart.[13][14] Due to its massive success, "Sleep Little Girl" was re-issued in January 1965.[15]
Tommy Albert Blom was a Swedish singer-songwriter, musician, radio presenter, and voice actor. He was the lead vocalist of the rock band Tages in the 1960s, and later a member of Idolerna in the 1990s. He was later the voice of Mr. Krabs in the Swedish dub of the American television show SpongeBob SquarePants.
"Miss Mac Baren" is a song by the Swedish rock band Tages, released as a single in November 1966. It was written by all five members of the group and was recorded during the sessions for their third studio album, Extra Extra, but was ultimately excluded from it. The B-side, "Get Up An' Get Goin'", was however included as the fourth track on the album. "Miss Mac Baren" got its first album release on Tages Hits Vol. 3, a compilation album released in August 1967.
"Like a Woman" is a song written by Swedish producer Anders Henriksson, bassist Göran Lagerberg and guitarist Danne Larsson, originally recorded by Lagerberg and Larsson's band Tages in 1967. Tages recorded the track at EMI Studios in London. It was initially released on the band's fifth album Studio (1967), before being used as the B-side of their 1968 single "There's a Blind Man Playin' Fiddle in the Street". The title references a girl that Lagerberg knew and musically bases on characteristics of psychedelic pop, including guitars run through leslie speakers
"Bloodhound" is a song, initially written and performed by soul singer Larry Bright in 1961. Initially performed as a rhythm and blues song, it quickly garnered a reputation as a garage rock song following a cover by British rock band Downliners Sect. The most well-known and commercially successful rendition of the song was recorded by Swedish rock band Tages in 1965, who charted on both Tio i Topp and Kvällstoppen with their garage rock version of it.
Tages is the debut studio album by the Swedish rock band Tages, released on 3 November 1965 on Platina Records. Released during a period in which the band had accumulated four top ten singles in Tio i Topp and as many on Kvällstoppen. This led the band to become one of Sweden's first and foremost pop groups, along with Hep Stars.
Tages 2 is the second studio album by the Swedish rock band Tages, released on 4 August 1966 by Platina Records. Often considered their artistic breakthrough, six out of twelve tracks are original compositions.
Extra Extra is the third studio album by the Swedish rock band Tages, released on 28 November 1966 by Platina Records. Their third and final album on Platina, it was issued only four months after their second studio album Tages 2. The album was largely recorded during a period in which the band had started evolving into a psychedelic rock group, something that became evident on their two final efforts, Contrast and Studio. The album was recorded during a period in which Tages underwent several lineup changes. It's their first effort not to feature drummer Freddie Skantze, who left following the recording of Tages 2, and is the second and final album with drummer and vocalist Tommy Tausis, who'd played on several tracks on Tages 2. He left following the recording of Extra Extra, and was replaced by Lasse Svensson
"Sleep Little Girl" is the debut single by the Swedish rock band Tages. It was written by Tommy Blom and released on 16 October 1964. The initial recording was made at a Youth center at Nylöse, a neighborhood of Gothenburg, Sweden's second biggest city, and the song has professionally been re-recorded in a studio twice.
"Crazy 'Bout My Baby" is a song first written and recorded by musician Robert Mosley in 1963. His third solo single, it failed to chart, leading to it becoming his final single released. Initially an obscure single, it was brought to light by mainstream acts such as The Swinging Blue Jeans and Tages, the latter of which charted in Sweden with it.
Tages is the first seven-inch extended play by Swedish rock group Tages, a release which features four songs, two of which showcase the early songwriting talent of the band. It was initially released on 4 June 1965 in 1000 copies on Platina Records.
"Don't Turn Your Back" is a song written by bass guitarist Göran Lagerberg and guitarist Anders Töpel, first recorded by their band Tages in 1965. Produced by the Violents Rune Wallebom, the song would be featured as the lead track from their debut EP Tages released three weeks later
"I Should Be Glad" is a song by the Swedish rock band Tages, written by bassist Göran Lagerberg and rhythm guitarist Danne Larsson in 1964. Following bad press for their debut single "Sleep Little Girl", the group quickly recorded a follow-up which critics would consider good.
Göran Bertil Lagerberg is a Swedish musician and singer-songwriter, best known as the bass guitarist and co-lead vocalist in Swedish rock band Tages and later progressive rock act Kebnekajse. In the 1990s, he was a member of supergroup Grymlings together with Magnus Lindberg, Pugh Rogefeldt and Mikael Rickfors.
Dan "Danne" Tage Bexér is a Swedish singer-songwriter, guitarist and businessman who is best known for being the rhythm guitarist in the Swedish rock band Tages, and subsequently Blond, between 1963 and 1969. Additionally, Larsson briefly played keyboards with the group and gave them their name. Though not a very prolific songwriter for the group, he provided them with some of their more well-known songs and also sang on several tracks. After the group broke up, Larsson left Sweden to become a businessman in various countries across Europe, including Spain and France, where he currently still resides.
(Per-Inge) Anders Töpel was a Swedish guitarist, best known for being the lead guitarist of the Swedish rock group Tages.
"The One for You" is a song written by Swedish guitarist Danne Larsson and recorded by his group Tages in 1965. Following an intensive tour of the Sweden, while also previously having composed songs for the band, Larsson wrote the song inspired by their trip to London, allegedly about a girl he had met there. It was the first recording by Tages produced by Anders Henriksson, who would come to produce the majority of their coming output, along with being their first single recorded at Europafilm Studios in Bromma, Stockholm.
"Balladen om killen" is a song written by bass guitarist Göran Lagerberg, recorded by singer Örjan Ramberg. Inspired by the life of Ramberg, Lagerberg composed the song as a reflection over both their lives inspired by Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone". The song, which is in the Swedish language, tells the tale of an unnamed narrator, who during a walk along a country road, details incidents that recently occurred in his life, including moving away from home, tongue-in-cheek references to acquaintances and the court proceedings after being caught with cannabis.
Studio is the fifth and final studio album by the Swedish rock band Tages, released on 4 December 1967 on Parlophone in Sweden. Following the success of their album Contrast, Tages began working on their follow-up to it. Hampered by a long summer tour, the album was largely recorded between October and November 1967 with sessions spanning back to April. It was primarily recorded at Europafilm Studios in Bromma, Stockholm with Anders Henriksson producing. The band took a break in recording the album in October for a tour of England organized by Parlophone, which allowed them access to EMI Studios in London, where two of the album's tracks were recorded. One single was released from the album, "She's Having a Baby Now" and the sessions also produced the non-album single "Treat Her Like a Lady".
Contrast is the fourth studio album by Swedish pop band Tages, released on 28 April 1967 through Parlophone Records. Contrast was preceded by a tumultuous period in Tages' career, in which drummer Tommy Tausis left the band for the Spotnicks only days before recording commenced. The album is the first to feature Tausis' replacement Lasse Svensson, who would stay with the group until 1969. It was also Tages' first album to be released through Parlophone, following three albums by independent record label Platina. Parlophone guaranteed Tages free studio time, resulting in the sessions for Contrast.
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